Four thoughts on an average Brazilian victory in Germany

A vengeful Brazilian side came out on top in Germany amid a rotated home team and a blunderous first half moment.
Brazil beat Germany 1:0 in their first encounter with with the German since the World Cup demolition at Belo Horizonte. Germany played well but ultimately Brazil were the better side.

German rotations

Even though there was quite a lot of hype surrounding Germany’s match up with Brazil, Germany went into it with a rotated side. Brazil’s side was a big contrast to the one that faced Germany in the World Cup in 2014 with an injured Neymar. Joachim Löw might have seen this friendly as just that, while the Brazilians seemed to look at it as a way to regain some pride after the tragedy at Belo Horizonte 4 years ago.
Germany fielded a rotated side across the pitch from goal to striker which was a good decision for a friendly.

Kevin Trapp’s first half horror show

Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had an evening to forget between the sticks. He made numerous errors with his passing often putting his defence into further pressure with his poor passing. Ultimately his poor decision-making lead to Brazil’s first goal. He did not come out early enough which turned out to be a poor decision. He also ultimately made a poor, shaky save allowing the ball to bounce off his glove into goal.
Löw kept him on after half time even though it was rumoured he had planned to let Bernard Leno play the second half. This was seen as a show of confidence by the manager. Trapp returned the favour after making a brilliant save a few minutes into the second half. Redemption.

Defiant defence

Barring the defensive mess that lead to the first goal for Brazil, it was an impressive display from the backline. The brute strength and speed from Antonio Rüdiger along with the amazing control and positioning from Jerôme Boateng worked well against Brazil’s tricky front. The Brazilians created numerous chances however, at the end of those chances were either a tackle or interception by the German defence.

The striker conundrum

Heading into the World Cup, the area where Germany is significantly lacking is the striker position.
In this match up against Brazil the strikers were afforded a bounty of chances which were mostly crosses, to feed off of however, they did not do anything with those chances. This was somewhat exposed at the Euro’s and it seems like it has not been fixed.
Germany’s lack of a world class striker is something that has hampered them. If Joachim Löw finds a solution to this before Russia it is unlikely that any team will be as comprehensively strong as Germany.
Germany already have the defence, the keepers and the midfield to dominate any team.

Bayern ended the season with yet another self-inflicted defeat in a defining game. Eintracht Frankfurt gave the Bavarians a lesson in self-respect and won the DFB-Pokal with a fantastic fighting spirit.